Even in today’s multicultural Britain, it’s a bit of a shock when you see one of them walking down the street towards you. Dressed in deepest black from head-to-foot, all hints of femininity are rendered invisible. Apart from the eyes, of course – those dark-rimmed eyes staring out at the... Continue reading

By Mark Wallace Follow Mark on Twitter. There are lots of interesting findings in the polls this week - most notably that the Conservatives are at level-pegging with Labour in several of them, a remarkable erosion of the Opposition's lead in recent months. One of the underlying statistics in today's Sun poll left me absolutely gobsmacked: "A massive 71 per cent of voters claim it isn’t clear what [Miliband] stands for — up ten per cent from last year." That should trouble the Labour operation deeply. It isn't even that voters disagree with them - that would be a luxury... Continue reading

Is the Economist rightwing or leftwing? On its website, the magazine – or newspaper as it prefers to style itself – tries to clear up the confusion: “Some readers, particularly those used to the left-right split in most democratic legislatures, are bamboozled by The Economist’s political stance. We like free... Continue reading

Iain Dale presents LBC 97.3 Drivetime programme 4-8pm every weekday. He also blogs at www.iaindale.com. Follow Iain on Twitter. The poor old LibDems suffered from two rather embarrassing email incidents during their conference. The first was when a press officer sent their entire “Lines to Take” to the media instead... Continue reading

Do we take the issue of early years education seriously enough? We should do, because according to Tom Chivers in the Telegraph, it can make an enduring difference to the life chances of disadvantaged children: “...we shouldn't be talking about getting children in school later – we should talk about... Continue reading

By Paul Goodman Follow Paul on Twitter. The Confessions of Gordon Brown, Kevin Toolis's window into the seventh circle of the former Prime Minister's soul, has been well-reviewed - both in the sense of positively and thoroughly. I came to the play's run at the Trafalgar Studios with a preconception... Continue reading

Nick Faith is Director of Communications at Policy Exchange. Follow Nick on Twitter. Expect to hear about living standards – stagnant pay packets, zero hours contracts, a lack of affordable housing, rising energy and water bills – from Ed Miliband in Brighton next week. The Labour leader knows that his party’s greatest electoral advantage is painting the Conservatives as looking out for their wealthy friends, not hard-pressed families struggling to get by even when the national economy is seemingly on the road to recovery. Osborne knew he had to pre-empt Labour’s attack. Last week, he delivered an important speech. He... Continue reading

Henry Hill is a British Conservative and Unionist activist and writer. Follow Henry on Twitter. He is also editor of the non-party website Open Unionism, which can be followed on Twitter here. Welsh FM calls for end to devolution ‘tinkering’ I find Carwyn Jones, the Labour First Minister of Wales,... Continue reading

By Mark Wallace Follow Mark on Twitter. The Lib Dem conference was never just going to be about Vince moaning and a plastic bag tax. Sure enough, Nick Clegg's big announcement is free school meals for all school children aged between five and seven. As Robert Halfon MP notes elsewhere on ConservativeHome this morning, the sensible part of Clegg's proposal (that which gives equality on school meals to poorer students at FE and Sixth Form Colleges) is actually nicked from the redoubtable MP for Harlow, which is further evidence of the need for Conservatives to take full credit for our... Continue reading

According to the National Audit Office, the Government’s flagship welfare reform policy – Universal Credit – is in trouble. The purpose of the new benefit is to combine six existing benefits into a single payment, with the aim of ensuring that work always pays more than life on the dole.... Continue reading

Grant Shapps is Chairman of the Conservative Party and MP for Welwyn Hatfield Getting people involved remains one of the most important things for any politician to do. Our job is to bring individuals together to forward our common beliefs and goals. That’s something that’s been a proud tradition of... Continue reading

By Mark Wallace Follow Mark on Twitter. I wrote yesterday about the fundamental division within the Lib Dems between the Liberals and the SDP: "Any political party is a coalition of sorts - we Conservatives certainly have plenty of tribes of our own, who disagree about plenty of issues. But Lib Demmery is a more divided creed than most. Having been formed from a merger of two parties, it has never succeeded in bringing the left and centre any closer together. The rift extends to the social level as well as just the ideological - you don't see many deficit... Continue reading

Last week the Deep End noted the influence of ‘journalese’ – the tabloid English in which much of our news is written. In a thought-provoking piece for Prospect, Michael Billig looks at a different kind of linguistic distortion – one that seeks to obscure meaning instead of exaggerating it: “One... Continue reading

Garvan Walshe was the Conservative Party's National and International Security Policy Adviser until 2008. Follow Garvan on Twitter. It’s been 40 years since the Yom Kippur war, when Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a surprise attack on Israel, which came close to threatening the state’s existence. Golda Meir’s government had... Continue reading

By Harry Phibbs Follow Harry on Twitter Watching the Lib Dem conference it is easy to sneer. There is the self importance - which despite being a Party of Government still feels absurd as the tedious procedural amendments are deliberated upon. There are all the contortions as speakers praise the Government but attack the Conservatives. There are all those speakers combining earnestness with eccentricity. There is something about the Lib Dem Party Conference which makes the jokes especially painful and indignation especially vacuous. Yet beneath the surface an ideological contest is taking place which - curioiusly enough - the liberals... Continue reading